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A Little Confection Behind the Ear

TWENTY years ago, when a roomful of perfumers smelled the sweet scent Thierry Mugler Angel for the first time, most of them were crinkling their noses in disgust.

“They said: ‘What is this thing? It’s not a perfume. It’s a flavor. It’s awful,’ ” said Pierre Aulas, now the olfactive artistic director of Thierry Mugler, who worked for another company at the time but was in the room. “They were all saying, ‘Oh, I’m sure it will be on the market six months.’ ”

Today, Angel, a heavy dose of patchouli with a candy center that conjures an image of Janis Joplin holding a lollipop, is the fifth best-selling scent in the United States, according to the NPD Group, the market research company. Its sweet heart — a vanilla, praline and caramel accord that made it stand out from the floral and powdery scents of the 1980s and early ’90s, and arguably created the “gourmand” perfume category — is copied by so many fragrance makers you could be forgiven for confusing a perfume counter with a confectionery, at least if your eyes are closed.

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Angel Eau de Toilette by Thierry Mugler.Credit
Dan Neville/The New York Times

Mr. Aulas estimates there are at least 50 fragrances similar to Angel now on the market, including Calvin Klein Euphoria (a woody Angel), Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb (a flowery, powdery Angel) and Chanel Coco Mademoiselle (an Angel with a marine note on top).

The newest sugar-heavy creations include Diesel Loverdose (with notes of vanilla and licorice); a “diet” (eau de toilette) version of Angel, with less patchouli and more red berry juice, that took two years to develop; and Prada Candy, which smells like a vanilla-caramel sundae made with artisanal ice cream. The designer Miuccia Prada, whose previous forays into the field emphasized amber and iris, told the scent’s creators that she was in the mood for something sweet. “She gave very clear instructions,” said one of them, the perfumer Daniella Andrier. “A caramel, but not half of a caramel. Uncompromised and daring.”

Other designers have also been craving dessert of late. “In general, I prefer sweet ingredients that are whimsical and modern like lady apple, dark chocolate and pink frosting,” Vera Wang wrote in an e-mail. Her 2006 Princess is a gourmand fragrance with these notes.

Like York Peppermint Patties or Mast Brothers Chocolate bars, sweeter fragrances tend to be addictive (perhaps in part because they offer the experience of sweet without the calories). Lev Glazman, who founded the cosmetics line Fresh with his wife, Alina Roytberg, used the word “addictive” when talking about his Sugar line of perfumes. In addition to the original Sugar, which was inspired by his Russian mother’s using sugar to keep his childhood scrapes from becoming infected, there’s Sugar Lemon, Sugar Lychee and Brown Sugar. “I wanted that addictive property to come through,” Mr. Glazman said. “When I’m surrounded by people who wear sugar, I understand why they like it and why those sitting around them like it. It’s very warm. You want to smell a person’s neck. How long can you sit in front of a gorgeous chocolate cake before you want to take a bite?”

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Dark Temptation by Axe.Credit
Dan Neville/The New York Times

The appeal of Angel, however, was not so obvious. When Bloomingdale’s salesclerks first spritzed it on customers’ wrists, many raced to the restroom to wash their hands, Mr. Aulas said.

“A lot of people hated it, but that’s what we liked,” he said. “With fragrance we always want people to love it and hate it because those who love it adore it.”

Ann Gottlieb, the president of the fragrance consulting company Ann Gottlieb Associates, who helped develop scents like Calvin Klein Obsession and all of the Axe body sprays, said that the current trend toward sweet is not just because of Angel but also a result of inexpensive vanilla and coconut body lotions and bath gels that women scoop up at places like Bath and Body Works, for which she was once a consultant.

“I think Bath and Body Works created the category even more than fine fragrances,” Ms. Gottlieb said. “It gave women permission to love things that were tasty and sweet, rather than floral and fruity.”

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Candy by Prada.Credit
Dan Neville/The New York Times

Even men are saying they want candy, especially if that’s what women want, too. Axe Dark Temptation, which has a chocolate scent, is one of the brand’s most popular body sprays because of what Ms. Gottlieb calls a “lickable quality.”

“It’s just so damn sexy that people can’t stay away,” she said.

Kilian Hennessy, the founder of By Kilian fragrances, created a gourmand scent, called Love, Don’t Be Shy, when he started the line in 2007. The perfume is based on a recipe for homemade marshmallows. But Mr. Hennessy said sweet fragrances have even more resonance today because of the bad economy.

“You always see an emergence of sweet scents during difficult times,” he said. “They feel protective, and that’s what you need when everything else loses its balance.”

However, some perfumers are burned out on sugar, especially as scents have grown increasingly sweeter since Angel.

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Sugar, Brown Sugar and Sugar Lemon by Fresh.Credit
Dan Neville/The New York Times

Jean-Claude Ellena, the exclusive perfumer for Hermès and author of “Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent,” admires Angel for its structure. “It has a strong shape,” he said. “People can recognize you in the street as somebody who wears Angel.”

But he refuses to use sugary notes in his own perfumes. “When you use the sugary gourmand product, I know by experience that you please easily,” Mr. Ellena said. “And when you please easily, people are pleased for the moment, but after they forget. I prefer a perfume that is more difficult to understand.”

Instead, his new Hermès Santal Massoïa, introduced in November, is made of the “milky” woods sandalwood and massoia. It smells sort of like a tree that’s been through a brutal storm. “I’ve never smelled anything like this before,” he said, “But it’s strange, and I like it.”

Gourmand fragrances, on the other hand, are “like an ice cream,” Mr. Ellena said.

“You eat your ice cream, and you forget it,” he said. “For me perfumery isn’t an ice cream. I like ice cream, but it’s only a moment of pleasure, nothing more.”

A version of this article appears in print on December 8, 2011, on page E3 of the New York edition with the headline: A Little Confection Behind the Ear. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe